Glimpses of Christmas

So, it's December. Has anyone else noticed?

If you haven't been able to tell by how busy any store is at any time of day on any day of the week, you might be able to tell by the lengths some people/neighborhoods go to to be festive. Our neighborhood is one of those neighborhoods - lots of people put lights on their houses, and wreaths, and all manner of lawn ornaments - light sculptures, and big colorful, inflatable Santas and penguins and polar bears... and pretty much any winter, cold weather-related animal. Most of them a done very tastefully. Then there is the occasional house where you wonder how it's even possible to make it to the door, it's so full of Christmas paraphernalia. Bot how can you blame people for being excited about this most wonderful time of year? Mostly, I'm glad that we have so many people around us who love Christmas, just like us! We are not immune to the spirit of the holidays. And I thought you might like to see a few glimpses of Christmas at our house.

The new color scheme/picture on our blog was somewhat inspired by the multi-colored lights that currently decorate the outside of our house... just in case you wondering.


I have always loved the way Christmas trees look from outside of a person's home. It's so warm and inviting and pretty.

Speaking of Christmas trees... here's ours:

I think it looks pretty good. I love Christmas. And I love our tree.

Even if it is about EIGHT INCHES too tall for our ceiling. See:

Here's a view from the side, where you can really see how the tip-top is bent to fit.

Yeah. It was about four years ago. We went to the (in)famous Dillard's After Christmas sale. We woke up at the crack of dawn to be there at opening time in order to try and get a killer deal on a Christmas tree. And we did. We got a killer deal on a 7.5 foot tree.

Why did we buy a 7.5 foot tree when our ceiling is 7 feet? It's a good question. A fair question.

The even better answer is: because we thought our ceilings were 8 feet, ok? We didn't measure before we left home. And standing in the store at 6am, trying to guesstimate how tall your ceilings are is harder than you might think! Add to that, that we didn't actually put up the tree for the first time until the following Christmas (a year after we'd bought it) - it all makes a pretty good story.

I think it gives it character.

Or something.


So, until we either raise the ceilings or move to another house that has at least 8 foot ceilings, we will just have our lighted star Christmas tree topper sit in front of the top of the tree, instead of on top of the tree. And we'll be ok with that!


The other day, my sister posted on her blog a few pictures of her cute sons and husband by their Christmas tree. I love them. I wanted some similar pictures of my cuties with our tree. I tried. But Audrey wasn't in the mood to follow directions.

I tried again later. She still wasn't really doing what I was trying to get her to do. She was more interested in playing with the camera. She wanted to be the photographer, not the subject. But then she found a middle ground and was both.

A self-portrait, if you will.

I think it turned out pretty cute - and much better than my failed attempts.